Brant Weiss

In addition to the Chargers’ Russell Okung announcement, they finalized their 53-man roster.

Cardale Jones did not make the team, with Los Angeles going with Tyrod Taylor and rookie Easton Stick behind Philip Rivers. The XFL has openly mentioned Jones on multiple occasions, so the former Bills and Ohio State passer could be a high-profile candidate for the upstart league.

The Chargers shuffled around the bottom of their roster Friday. The team is bringing in offensive tackle Brant Weiss, and waiving offensive tackle Koda Martin with an injury designation to make room for him.

Weiss went undrafted out of Toledo back in 2018, and signed with the Cardinals. After spending training camp and the preseason in the desert, he was cut by Arizona. He latched on with the AAF, playing for the ill-fated Arizona Hotshots. After the AAF folded, Weiss was re-signed by the Cardinals, but didn’t last very long on their roster.

Martin is a rookie undrafted free agent out of Syracuse. He started his college career at Texas A&M before moving on to Syracuse, where his father-in-law Dino Barbers is the head coach. Martin earned a third-team All-ACC selection for his work last season protecting Eric Dungey.

While neither of these players were ever likely to make much of an impact, Weiss can’t be counted out yet. The Chargers have an uncertain situation at tackle, to say the least. Right tackle Sam Tevi graded out as Pro Football Focus’ 74th-best tackle last year, and we still don’t have an update on left tackle Russell Okung‘s mysterious injury. The Chargers might end up needing tackle depth, and it wouldn’t be shocking if Weiss stuck around.

The Cardinals have signed enough undrafted free agents to fill a starting lineup. Of course, it’s likely that only a few will actually make Arizona’ final cut. The complete rundown of Arizona’s UDFA class is as follows:

The Cardinals also have six drafted rookies to account for, meaning that they presently have 99 players in total. The Cardinals will be laying off at least nine players in the coming days in order to sign the aforementioned UDFAs to contracts.

Kicker Phil Dawson inked a two-year, $6MM deal with the Cardinals last year, but the team could save $2.5MM with just $1MM in dead money by releasing him. In theory, McCrane could have an opportunity to unseat him, especially since he would represent a cheaper option. Last year, Dawson connected on 80% of his field goal tries, including 4-of-5 from 50+ yards. He also nailed the longest field goal try of his NFL career when he sank a 57-yard game winner against the Jaguars.